| The Ducksters | |
|---|---|
 The title card ofThe Ducksters. | |
| Directed by | Charles M. Jones |
| Story by | Michael Maltese |
| Starring | Mel Blanc |
| Music by | Carl Stalling |
| Animation by | Character animation: Lloyd Vaughan Ken Harris Phil Monroe Ben Washam Emery Hawkins (uncredited) |
| Layouts by | Robert Gribbroek |
| Backgrounds by | Peter Alvarado |
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation |
Release date |
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Running time | 7:21 |
| Language | English |
The Ducksters is a 1950Warner Bros.Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short, directed byChuck Jones and written byMichael Maltese.[1] The cartoon was released on September 2, 1950, and starsDaffy Duck andPorky Pig.[2] The title is a pun on the 1947 filmThe Hucksters, and the cartoon is a parody largely based on the popular game and quiz showTruth or Consequences.
Porky Pig finds himself as a contestant on a radio quiz show hosted by Daffy calledTruth or AAAAHHH!! which, according to Daffy is sponsored by "the Eagle Hand Laundry - if your eagle's hands are dirty, we'll wash 'em clean!". On the show, Porky is faced with answering ridiculously impossible questions in limited time, only to endure torturous penalties for failing or answering incorrectly.
Porky endures various punishments, including being threatened by a buzz saw, flattened by the Rock of Gibraltar, and blown up with dynamite. Despite Daffy's taunts, Porky refuses to give up until he is subjected to one final challenge: identifying "Miss Shush", who turns out to be a ferocious gorilla. As Porky comes out battered and in a rage, Daffy declares him the winner of the jackpot prize: $26,000,000.03.
Now in possession of the money, Porky phones the owner of the Ajax Broadcasting Company, the radio network broadcasting the show, and quickly buys it for the price of $26,000,000.03, becoming Daffy's new boss. Porky seeks retribution by subjecting Daffy to a rapid montage of the same penalties he was forced to suffer. The cartoon ends as Daffy is ultimately confronted with the same buzz saw Porky encountered at the beginning of the short, amusingly appealing to the audience for medical assistance.
Mel Blanc portrays all voices in this short, includingDaffy Duck,Porky Pig and the audience member.
The cartoon's title is a play onThe Hucksters, a satirical novel about the advertising business that was made into a 1947 live-action film starringClark Gable.
"Eagle Hand Laundry", the business supposedly sponsoring Daffy's radio show, was at the time the name of an actualhand laundry inBrooklyn.[3]
The quiz show, namedTruth or AAAAHHH!!, is a play on the 1940s radio quiz programTruth or Consequences. Daffy Duck's line "Aren't wegruesome??" was lifted fromRalph Edwards' expression, "Aren't we devils??", which he often used while hostingTruth or Consequences. His final line, "Have you got a doctor in the balcony, lady?!" is a play on another radio quiz show,Dr. I.Q.. The announcer on that show would note "I have a lady in the balcony, doctor." when introducing a new contestant.
One can tell that the cartoon was made before Alaska and Hawaii became states because one of the quiz questions was to name all48 states. Both Alaska and Hawaii became states in 1959, and pop culture since then has used the term "50 states".